SIXTEEN
Gigi
Harry has always had a tendency to run when shit gets real, but after our kiss, he insisted I head home. And not to my parent’s house – to his. He had business to deal with first, but he said Mia and Andy would keep me company since they’d bumped into each other after I fled.
As I pull up outside his house and head inside, Mia watches me accusingly. Her eyes run over my body as if she’s trying to unveil all my truths with one look.
She crosses her arms over her chest. “‘Saw someone I knew.’ Bullshit!”
I bow my head, fighting a blush.
Despite her prying, I deny everything. But she knows. Of course she knows. And I reckon Andy must do too from the way he smirks at my bashfulness.
I spend the remainder of the afternoon avoiding all their questions, meaning I’m thoroughly distracted when I pick up my ringing phone without bothering to check the caller ID.
“Hello?” I greet, propping the device between my shoulder and my chin.
A moment of total silence passes from the other end.
“Gigi?”
I pause for a solid few seconds before I sigh. “Greg.”
“Is now a good time to talk? ”
Through the chaos of everything with Harry, Greg’s desperation to talk had completely slipped my mind.
Despite avoiding the night of the fall-out as much as possible, even throughout my stay at his house, it was boiling beneath the surface. And with what’s happened between me and Harry, it’s about ready to explode right in our faces.
Turning to Mia, I gnaw at my bottom lip, and she tilts her head.
“It’s Greg,” I mouth, causing her eyes to roll.
Puffing air into my cheeks, I let it out with a huff. “I’m not sure I’m ready …”
“Where are you? Are you with Mia? I’m just round the corner. I really think it’s time we talk about this.” The plea in his voice is evident. “I miss you.”
Those three words make me grimace.
A conversation is the least he deserves after everything that’s occurred. But if he’s expecting this will be a pleasant and forgiving chat, he’s got another think coming. It’s about time to pour salt on the wound.
“Sure. We can meet,” I say, causing Mia’s eyes to go wide. She starts to shake her head vigorously. “I’ll meet you for a coffee in town.”
“I’ll leave soon.”
He hangs up, and Mia explodes just as I end the call.
“Are you crazy!” she shouts.
“A lot of people have thought that about me recently,” I groan. “I’ve got to tell him at some point. I’d rather him hear it from me than from Harry.”
She lets out a low whistle. “You’ve got a death wish.”
I shrug. Maybe I do.
She stands up and shrugs on her jacket. “I’ve got to go anyway. My guy said he’s got some information he wants us to see.”
After saying goodbye to Andy, Mia and I walk towards our cars. “Let me know if you hear anything useful.”
She nods and steps forwards, rubbing both her hands up and down my arms. “Be careful.”
I chuckle, prying her hands off me. “It’s only Greg.”
The bell chimes above my head as I enter. I scan the coffee shop and my eyes land on Greg sitting in a chair beside the window. He stares out into the abyss, dark clouds hovering up above, concealing more rainfall.
It looks about ready to storm.
I take a moment to watch him silently while I hover by the front door. I thought I’d feel more guilty for ignoring his persistent attempts to talk, but there’s not an ounce of remorse.
“Excuse me, miss,” someone says, attempting to get past.
I apologise and move out of the customer’s way, losing sight of Greg for a split second. When I look back, his eyes are already on me, and his neutral expression has stretched into a wide grin, beckoning me over.
I walk over, smiling politely. He rises from his chair to place a kiss on my cheek, and I fight a grimace as I sit beside him.
“Was that too much?” he asks. “I never know where we stand nowadays, and it just feels right to kiss you.”
Sitting down, I hang the jacket off the back of my chair only to give myself time to hide the uncomfortable look on my face. The gesture will make him assume I’m relaxed, but in reality I don’t plan on staying for long. When I turn back, my smile threatens to slip as he curls his hand above mine on the table.
“How have you been?”
“Good … good,” I say, busying my hands by tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear as a subtle way to unlink myself from him. “Yourself? ”
“I’ve been better …” He sighs. “I’ve been desperate to talk to you, and you’ve just been so busy. Have you been staying with your parents?”
I shake my head. I haven’t stayed there since our most recent fight, and I definitely don’t plan on reconciling anytime soon. “I’ve been staying with Mia,” I say effortlessly, ignoring the partial lie.
He nods, eyes scanning my features as if he’s trying to decipher the truth in the statement. I’m momentarily distracted as the server comes over to place our drinks on the table, guilt creasing the corners of my eyes as I realise Greg already ordered for me.
“Listen …” he says, clutching my hand again. “I’ve missed you so much, Gigi. I’ve been tearing myself apart since you left my place. It just feels so natural when you’re around. Like you’re meant to always be in the family …”
Oh God!
I’m forced to bite the tip of my tongue. It can’t continue like this. I have to tell him about Harry, and a lot quicker than originally anticipated.
“… and with how your parents have been treating you, I’ve been meaning to ask you—”
“I have something to tell you.”
“I know it might seem like I’m coming on too harsh—”
“Greg.”
“… and I know we’re not technically together and everything—”
“I need to tell you something.”
“The argument was silly. Let’s forget about it—”
“Excuse me!”
“Let’s be adults about this.”
“You’re not going to like what—”
“I think you should move in permanently.”
“I kissed Harry!”
Time slows to half-speed. The coffee shop stills for a few seconds, the silence insinuating every customer heard my dirty confession. Yet the reality is, I can only hear Greg’s silence.
If it wasn’t for the faint movement in his jaw, I might have thought my words paralysed him.
As if time catches up with him in an instant and the noise escalates to a piercing pitch, his expression drops. It’s not cold; it’s arctic. And it’s nothing short of terrifying.
“Say something,” I plead.
Nothing.
A ringing phone plagues the silence between us, making my body jolt far too dramatically for something as simple as a ringtone. Greg whips his head towards me, grinding his teeth.
“Is that him?”
“Wh-what? No,” I say, panicked.
I dig my hand through my bag in search of my phone, trying to find the device so I can shut it off stat. When I’m able to silence the call through the lock button, I don’t bother checking the caller ID.
I’m not sure who it is, but Harry is the least of my suspicions.
Before I can look up from my bag, Greg has leaned over the table and wrapped his arm round my bicep, forcing my attention directly onto him. His fingers pry into my skin over my T-shirt.
“You’re hurting me.”
“Don’t get involved with him. I mean it, Gigi,” he says, his expression stern and his voice declaring no argument. “Whether he’s my fucking brother or not, take the advice. You do not want to go down that road—”
My phone starts ringing again, the shrill sound piercing the air between us. I ignore the call and let it go to voice mail, warily looking between Greg’s eyes. Despite the pain he’s inflicting, he makes no attempt to loosen his grip.
My voice drops low. “What aren’t you telling me? ”
Then unease hits me like a thunderstorm. I quickly backtrack my eagerness to pry for information and force my arm from his grip. He’s purposely trying to pollute the air between Harry and me out of pure bitterness. I don’t entirely blame him, but I wish I’d been smart enough to see it coming.
I laugh under my breath. “You’re ridiculous.”
He leans forwards suddenly, and I fight the instinct to lean back in my chair. “I’ve been telling you since the moment you met him to stay the fuck away—”
That fucking phone rings again. I grunt in frustration, pulling it from my bag with ease this time. The caller ID shows Mia’s name. She can wait.
I hang up and place the phone face up on the table.
“It was Mia,” I tell him.
This time there’s no break between calls, and the screen instantly alights with her name. I’m not sure what pressures me to answer this one, but it’s as if it suddenly dawns on me this is the fourth time she’s called within a matter of minutes.
“What is it?” I ask her.
Her voice is frantic. “Where exactly are you? I need to see you. Now!”
“I’m with Greg, remember?”
“I don’t care! I’m heading home now. Meet me at my house in twenty minutes,” she says, hanging up barely a second later.
My eyes widen in surprise as I slowly lower the phone from my ear. “I think I have to go,” I say, rising to my feet and taking the jacket from off my chair.
Greg jumps to his feet almost simultaneously. “You can’t leave! We’ve only just started talking.”
When I start shrugging on my jacket, he takes the opportunity to reach over and grab my bicep again. My expression turns cold, and I feel the fury running through my veins.
“Get off me.”
“You have to listen—”
“Release your hand from me right now, otherwise I’ll scream.”
Greg’s face drops completely. His expression is almost as frightening as it was the moment I confessed to kissing his brother.
He’s losing me, and it’s obvious in the way his grip loosens.
“Listen to what I said,” he warns. “I mean it.”
I storm through Mia’s front door with the anger of a raging bull. Liquid heat is coursing through my veins, and when my fists curl I fear I’m going to punch something. I now understand why people take up sports as a way of releasing some steam.
My quick entrance has Mia jumping up from her spot on the sofa. Her eyes scan me in concern, but I put up a hand to keep her quiet. I only have room for one angry thought, and Greg is ripping that small space into tatters, tearing it straight through the middle.
I sit on the edge of the sofa, running my hands through the front of my hair and tugging so hard at the root I’m convinced the action will pull some hair loose.
“I have something you should see. You’re not going to like it …”
“What is it?” I snarl. “Because whatever you’re about to show me can’t make me feel any worse than I already do.”
Mia steps closer, standing just in front of my bent knees, and hands something to me. In my peripheral I can see it’s a small piece of paper resembling a photograph.
Keeping my head down, I ask, “What’s that?”
“Take it,” she encourages .
I huff, pushing the hair from my eyes as I take the photo from her.
It takes me a while to look down at what’s resting in my palms. But when my eyes finally focus on the contents of the image, my entire world shifts on its axis.
I grip the photo so hard it starts to crease under my harsh grip.
“Wh-where did you find this?”
She bows her head in silence. There’s no need for her to answer. I know she got it from the guy she’s in contact with. My hands are shaking by the time I bring the image closer to my face.
It’s an image of Jack.
He’s beaming from ear to ear, and his happiness radiates through the photograph. Maybe if I wasn’t so taken aback I’d embrace the warm feeling. But it’s quickly eradicated by another feeling I can’t quite place.
He holds the person close to his side, both of their arms slung round each other’s shoulders. If a stranger were to look at this photo, they’d instantly assume these two people are best friends.
I continue to stare, my chest constricting with each passing second as reality hits me like a tidal wave.
I suddenly know what that feeling is …
I’m an outsider.
The photograph makes the person I know feel like a stranger … because it’s a picture of my brother.
With Harry.